Fire net for buildings



Oct. 5, 1948. A. JONES FIRE NET FOR BUILDINGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledApril 21, 1947 awe/WM: 445x Jam-s.

Qct. '5, 1948.

A. JONES FIRE NET FOR BUILDINGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 21, 1947 AMX domes Oct. 5, 1948. JONES FIRE NET FOR BUILDINGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed April 21, 1947 a on A. JONES FIRE NET FOR BUILDINGS Oct. 5, 1948.

5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 21, 1947 AAEX douss Oct. 5, 1948. JONES2,450,595

FIRE NET FOR BUILD NGS Filed April 21, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 vlallllllvb llllu. 0

Patented Oct. 5, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Alex Jones, Lyman, S.C.

Application April 21, 1947, Serial No. 742,893

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to escape means from a burning building byproviding means for supporting a housed net at each corner of thebuilding with means forextending said nets across each side of thebuilding in case of a fire, said not "being preferably disposedimmediately below the windows of the secondstory so that regardless ofthe height of the building, persons may jump from the windows and landon the net fromwhich point they can drop to the ground or berescued byfire departments and the'like.

It is an object of this invention to provide girders extending from eachcorner of the building, and each side of the building having a housingin which a net is stored, said net being adapted to travel along cablesorrods running from one end of the building to the other when a fireoccurs in the building, said nets being extensible by motor drivenmeans, which motors can be energized from the clerlis desk or any othersuitable location within the building.

It is another object of this invention to provide the escape meanscomprising means associated with each corner of the building forsupporting a net extending from one corner of the building to the otherand with a housing in which the net can be housed against the weatherand with motor driven means connected to the free end of the not so thatit can be extended from one corner of the building to the other belowthe lower windows or immediately above the ground floor so that personsentrapped in the upper stories can jump into the net from whence theycan be rescued.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of one sideof a building showing my invention attached thereto;

Figure 2 is a sectional plan view taken along the line 2-2 in Figure 1and showing portions of the building and mechanism broken away;

Figure 3 isa vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-4 in Figure2;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line t-4 in Figure3;

Figure 5 is a vertical section-al'view taken along the line 5--5 inFigure 3;

Figure 6 is a sectional plan View taken along the line 65 in Figure 3and omitting certain parts;

Figure 7 is an elevation taken along the line '!"I in Figure 2, andshowing the ou'ter Wall of the housing for the net broken away; andshowing the movable door in closed position;

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line li--8inFigure 7.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral l0 indicates abuilding of any desired height having a plurality of stories therein andeach story, of course, having a plurality of rooms with windows I!therein. The ground line-on which the building is situated is indicatedat l2. In order to provide means of escape throughthe windows of thevarious stories of thebuildin'g; 'I have devised means for extending a'net b'elow-all of the stories except the ground floor into which theoccupants of the room's may jump in case they are entrapped by fire inthe building. As

the equipment on the four sides of the'b-uilding is identical, adescription of the mechanism associated with one side of the buildingwilljbe given, and like-reference characters'will apply'to the othersides of the building. The building walls have usually a steelfrainework comprising vertically disposed I beams through-out the wallstructure and especially at each corner of the building. r

The vertically disposed I-beams are indicated at 9 and each of theseI-beaIns has welded thereto and extending outwardly therefrom ahorizontally disposed I-beam 8, and the outer end of each I-beam B hasan eye I? therein to which is connected a guy link l5 whose other end isconnected to an eye member 1 which is wel-ded'to the vertically disposedI-beam frame member 9'. Also secured to each vertical I beam '9 is anoutwardly extending I 'beam i6 which has an eye H in its free end towhich is connected a guy link l8 vg hose other end is connected to aneye l9 which in turn is welded to itsasso'oiated I -beam 9. The l-beam 8supports a housing 213 and said housing is-also secured to the wall ofthe building by' lag screws 24. This housing 2!] has a top, bottom, twoside members, a rear end member and'a movable-door 22; Penetrating theI-beams 8 and f6 are spaced guy rods or guy cables 23 and 24 whichcompletely encircle the building.

Disposed on the side of the I- beam 8 which faces the I-beam I6 is apair of eye bolts 26 and 21 through which a cable ZB'is passed, thecable being doubledupon itself where it passes through the eye bolts 26and 21 and has suitable securing means, such as a wire 31!, attachedtherearound to prevent slippage of the cable 28 relative to the eyebolts 26 and N. This cable also passes through suitable eye bolts 35 and35 secured to the proximate face of door 22 and at these points asuitable wire or other stay such as 3D is also wound around the cable28" to prevent slippage of members 42 and 43. The other ends of thestrap members 42 and 43 are welded to and project downwardly towards theI-beam 8 and have welded to their other ends a horizontally disposedI-beam 44. On this I-beam 44, a pair of upwardly projecting bearings 45and 46 are secured, in which is rotatably mounted a shaft 41. This shaft41 has a pair of drums 48 and 49 fixedly secured thereon, around whichare wound cables and 52, the free ends of which are connected to eyebolts 54 and 55 secured to the door 22 which is slidably mounted on theguy rods or cables 23 and 24.

The uprising bearing member 45 has associated therewith a pivoted dog orpawl 60 which is adapted to engage a ratchet wheel 6! fixed on the shaft41 which will lock the net in extended position and'prevent its movingtowards folded position under the impact of a person falling onto thenet.

When it is desired to house the nets, of course this dog would be liftedfrom the ratchet wheel 6| and placed over against the other side of theratchet wheel to permit the cables 5! and 52 to be unwound from thedrums 48 and 49.

Each shaft 41 has fixed thereon a pulley 63 which has a V-belt 64thereon which is also mounted on a V-pulley 65 on motor shaft 56 of anelectric motor 51. Each electric motor 6'! has leading therefrom wiresand II which lead to a switch 12 at any desired point in the buildingsuch as at the clerks desk of a hotel so that in case of fire, he canclose switch 12 and move all of the nets to distended position, or, ifdesired, the switch 12 can be thermostatically operated to omit thepersonal element.

Mounted on top of the I-beam I6 is a bracket in which is rotatablymounted an idler pulley 1B for preventing the V-belt 64 from engagingthe I-beam l5.

It is thus seen that I have provided a fire net associated with eachside of a building which can be housed against the elements, but whichnets can be moved to distended position by remote control orthermostatic control so as to provide a fir net anchored to the buildingwhich will be accessible for the occupants thereof in case regularescape routes are cut ofi.

If it should be desired to operate the mechanism by hand to extend thenets, as in case of electric current failure, I may mount on the shaft4! a bevel gear 80, and a collar 8| may be welded. to I-beam 44 and ashaft 82 will rotatably penetrate shaft 44 and collar 8i and have abevel gear 83 secured on its upper end, meshing with bevel gear 80. Thelower end of shaft 82 has a fitting 85 secured on its lower end having asocket into which the upper end of a handle 88 may be releasably fittedto rotate the shaft 82. The handle 86 may be stored within the buildingor other suitable place.

In order to de-energize the motor 61 when the net is fully extended, Iprovide a fixed GQIIWQQ 9B on the exterior of the building and also amovable spring contact 9|, which contact Si is biased to engage contact90, but contact 81 is extended into the path of door 22, so as to beengaged by the door 22 to move contact 9| away from contact 90 to breakthe circuit since these contacts are connected in series with wire 1 i.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

I claim:

1. A fire escape apparatus for a building comprising an outwardlyprojecting beam adjacent each corner of the building, a pair of spacedsupporting means extending from one beam to the other, a housingadjacent one beam, a net slidably mounted at spaced intervals along itsside edges on said supporting means and said net being adapted to bemoved backwardly into folds within the housing, one end of the net beingsecured to the beam adjacent the housing, a pair of cables having oneend secured to the free end of the net, a motor driven shaft associatedwith the beam remote from the housing, an electric motor for drivingsaid shaft, said shaft having a pair of drums thereon to which the otherends of said cables attached to the free end of the net are attached,whereby when the motor is energized the cables will be wound around thedrums to withdraw the net from the housing and extend it along the twospaced supports and into which net persons occupying floors above thenet may jump.

2. In a building having a plurality of side walls and having a pair ofbeams projecting from the corners thereof, and being substantiallyparallel to each other, a pair of spaced supports passing through saidbeams and around the building, one of the beams projecting from onecorner of the building having a housing adjacent thereto, the other ofthe beams projecting from one side of the building having a rotatableshaft associated therewith, a pair of spaced supports extending betweenthe beams on one side of the building, a foldable net slidably supportedat spaced intervals on the supports, one end of the net being secured tothe beam adjacent said housing and the other end of the net beingsecured to the side of the housing remote from the beam, the side of thehousing remote from the beam being slidably mounted on said supports,the exterior of the housing having a pair of cables secured thereto,said rotary shaft having a, pair of drums thereon to which the otherends of said cables are secured, an electric motor for driving therotary shaft having the drums thereon, whereby when the motor isenergized, the free side of the housing will be moved along saidsupports along with the net to extend the net from out of the housingalong said supports to thereby move the net to extended position.

3. In a fire net apparatus for buildings, a pair of beams projectingfrom each side of the build-- ing adjacent the corners thereof, a pairof spaced supports extending between and secured to the beams, a firenet slidably supported on said supports, one end of the fire net beingsecured to one of the beams near one corner of the building, and theother end of the net being secured to a rotatable shaft associated withthe other beam, an electric motor for driving the rotatable shaft,whereby when the electric motor is energized the net will be extendedfrom one beam to the other for reception of persons jumping from windowsdisposed above the net.

4. In a building having a plurality of sides divided by corner portions,each corner portion having a pair of horizontally disposed beamsprojecting therefrom, the beams at each corner being disposed atsubstantially right angles to each other, a pair of spaced supportspassing through all the beams and extending around the building, a netmounted on said supports between a pair of beams projecting from oneside of the building, the free end of the net being secured to one beam,the other beam having associated therewith a rotatable shaft providedwith a pair of drums, cables secured to said drums and having their freeends secured to the free end of the net, whereby when the electric motoris energized for imparting rotation to the shaft having the drumsthereon, the net will be extended along the supports extending betweenthe beams.

5. A fire escape net adapted to be associated with a side of a buildingnear the lower portion of the building and in spaced relation to theground, comprising horizontally projecting beams secured to andextending from the corner portions of a, wall, a housing supportedadjacent one of the beams, a pair of spaced supporting members extendingbetween the beams, a net slidably mounted at spaced intervals along itsside edges to said supports, whereby the net'can be moved to foldedposition inside the housing, means for securing one end of the net tothe beam inside the housing, the beam associated with the other cornerof the building having a rotatable shaft associated therewith, saidshaft having a pair of drums thereon, a pair of cables secured to saiddrums and having their other ends secured to the free end of said net,an electric motor for imparting rotation to the rotatable shaft havingthe drums thereon, whereby when the electric motor is energized the netwill be withdrawn from the housing and moved along the supports thedistance between the two beams to thus provide an extended net intowhich persons may jump from stories disposed above the net.

6. In a building having a plurality of side portions with cornerportions disposed between the side portions, each corner havingprojecting therefrom two horizontally disposed beams, the beams of eachcorner being disposed 180 degrees apart from each other, a pair ofspaced rods extending through the beams on one side of the building andthrough the beams on the other sides of the building, a net disposedbetween the beams on each side of the building, said net being slidablysupported at its edges on the supports extending between the beams,means for securing one end of the net to one of the beams on one side ofthe building, the other beam on any one side of the building havingassociated therewith a rotatable shaft provided with a pair of drums, acable associated with each of the said drums and having one end securedto the drums,

the other ends of said cables being secured to the free end of said net,an electric motor for driving the rotatable shaft having the drumsthereon, a remotely controlled switch in the building for supplyingenergy to the electric motor, whereby when energy is supplied to theelectric motor associated with each of the nets, all of the nets on allsides of the building will be extended between the beams into operativeposition for the reception of persons jumping from windows disposedabovethe net.

'7. A fire escape net for a building comprising a horizontally extendingbeam associated with each corner of a side wall of a building, a housingassociated with one of the beams, a pair of supports spaced from eachother and extending between and being secured to the beams on one sideof the building, a net slidably mounted at intervals along its length onsaid rods, means for securing one end of the net to the beam associatedwith said housing, said housing having the side remote from the beamslidably mounted on said rods, means for securing the free end of thenet to the interior of one of the side walls of the housing which isslidably mounted on the rods, a rotary shaft associated with the otherbeam and having a pair of drums thereon, each of said drums having oneend of a cable secured thereto, the other ends of said cables'mounted onsaid drums, beingsecured to the exterior surface of said side wallassociated with said housing, an electric motor for imparting rotationto the rotary shaft having the drums thereon, a remotely located switchin the building and a circuit leading from said switch to the electricmotor whereby when the motor is energized rotation will be imparted tothe drums to thereby move the free side wall of the housing along thesupports to withdraw it from the housing and extend it along saidsupports from one beam to the other to serve as a net for catchingpersons jumping from windows in the building disposed above the net.

ALEX JONES.

No references cited.

